The present invention relates to a pallet cage comprising a pallet and four walls supported on its edges, which together form a cage open above and having the shape of a rectangular parallelopiped.
Pallet cages, i.e. pallets with racks supported on them, are widely used for the storage, transportation and handling of various goods and increasingly also as selling and distribution racks in retail stores. The pallets are mainly wooden structures assembled by nailing, such as FIN pallets and EURO pallets or their split halves. However, in the context of the present application, xe2x80x98palletxe2x80x99 also refers to a straight plate, e.g. a thick plywood plate with wheels mounted under its four corners.
Prior-art pallet cage wall structures in most cases consist of plywood plates or boards joined together by various joint and hinge arrangements. The rack thus formed can be erected and supported in the shape of a right-angled parallelogram around the edges of a pallet, and after use it can be collapsed into a more compact form.
However, prior-art pallet cage structures have several drawbacks. The modular walls are heavy and difficult to handle. When collapsed, they generally take up more room in the longitudinal direction than the length of the pallet in question, so it is difficult to collect them onto pallets and return them using pallets. Moreover, because of their appearance and unhygienic nature, such wooden pallet cage structures are generally only suitable for use in storage rooms and cannot be regarded as elegant selling racks for retail stores, where they are nowadays frequently seen. Likewise, the prior-art wall structures are in many applications difficult to use because they cannot be opened or disassembled in part only, but instead it is necessary to remove a whole tier of the same height at a time from the wall structure on the pallet if the pallet cage is to be partially disassembled or if its walls are to be made lower.
Pallets provided with wheels, i.e. castor pallets, are generally provided with metal racks or metal cages. These are widely used for the transportation of goods and as selling racks in shops and also e.g. in laundries for the transportation of laundry. However, cages made of metal wire have an appearance unfit for retail purposes and they make a noise during transportation as they clatter against each other, so they are disagreeable to use.
The object of the invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages. A specific object of the invention is to disclose a new type of pallet cage which is compact when collapsed and is easy, simple and light to assemble, has an elegant appearance and a hygienic structure regarding its material and is easy to keep clean while allowing versatile and varied alternatives of pallet cage structure for different applications.
The pallet cage of the invention comprises a traditional pallet forming the bottom of the cage, e.g. a EURO pallet, a FIN pallet or a thicker, straight plate provided with wheels, and four walls mounted on it, which together form a cage open at the top and having the shape of a rectangular parallelopiped. According to the invention, the four walls of the cage are separate castings pressed from plastic, detached from each other, two of which are opposite and identical side walls while the other two are opposite and identical end walls. The end wall consists of a straight and elongated, substantially plate-like part with joining elements at both ends of it, and the side wall consists of a straight and elongated, substantially plate-like part and a 90xc2x0 corner piece at each end of it, with counterparts for the joining elements of the end walls at their outer edges. Thus, the end walls and the side walls can be connected to each other by means of the joining elements and their counterparts to form the walls of a pallet cage on a pallet.
The joining element and its counterpart preferably consist of elements movable with respect to each other in the vertical direction of the cage and latchable to each other in the horizontal direction. Thus, to connect the walls of the cage to each other, no movable or turnable parts or latches need to be operated, but only the walls are moved vertically with respect to each other so that they engage each other via appropriately shaped joining elements and their counterparts.
The castings of the invention are preferably made from HD polyethylene, but other plastic materials may also be used.
The side wall of the invention comprises at least two lugs extending downward from its lower edge, by which lugs the side wall can be held steady on and/or fastened to a pallet. The lug may be provided with a hole for a screw or nail for securing the side wall to the pallet. In its simplest form, the pallet cage of the invention consists of a pallet and two end walls and two side walls, forming a rack on top of the pallet. However, upon this rack it is possible to mount another rack and even more racks of a corresponding structure so that a pallet cage with a suitable wall height can always be obtained. Thus, in an embodiment of the invention, the lug extending downward from the lower edge of the side wall comprises at least one latching socket and the upper edge of the side wall is provided with a projecting latching clutch corresponding to the latching socket and located in a corresponding part on the outer surface. Thus, the identical side walls placed one upon the other can be locked to each other by setting them so that the latching clutch of the lower side wall goes into the latching socket of the side wall above it. Thus, the side walls being vertically exactly aligned with each other, they are locked to each other in the vertical direction.
In an embodiment of the invention, the number of latching sockets placed one above the other in the lug exceeds the number of latching clutches placed one above the other in the outer surface of the upper edge of the side wall by at least one. Thus, the side wall can be locked in at least two different height positions on another side wall. This structural alternative makes it possible to use e.g. a plate-like intermediate floor between two wall structures placed one upon the other, yet without preventing them from being latched together so as to keep them immovable in the vertical direction.
Preferably both the end wall and the side wall is provided with an angle flange extending through their essential length at their lower edge. The flange extends downward from the lower surface of the wall, allowing the walls to be accurately mounted either upon a pallet or upon corresponding other walls.
Preferably the upper edge of both the end wall and the side wall comprises a substantially horizontal top flange, upon and against which another identical end wall or side wall can be readily supported.
As compared with prior-art solutions, the pallet cage of the invention has significant advantages. The pallet cage is very rigid and durable in spite of its simple structure and the ease of its assembly and disassembly. The structure contains no moving or turning parts, but only fixed and rigid castings to be set upon the pallet. When disassembled, the components of the pallet cage do not take up much room and they can be accommodated on the pallet in question, so they can be easily transported and returned. The pallet cage can be partially disassembled or opened, i.e. some of the other end walls can be removed from it, which allows diversified application of the pallet cages even as distribution racks in shops. In addition, as compared with traditional wooden/metallic structures, the invention is superior in respect of appearance, allowing unlimited color alternatives. The entire structure is hygienic and easy to keep clean, so it can be used in a very wide range of applications, even in cases where traditional structures can not be used.